In a single wafer liquid processing unit (a substrate liquid processing apparatus) in which a liquid processing is performed on a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as a “wafer”) serving as a substrate by supplying various processing liquids, an alkaline or acidic chemical liquid is supplied to a wafer surface that is rotating to remove dusts or natural oxides from the wafer surface. The chemical liquid remaining on the wafer surface is removed by a rinse liquid. When the supply of the rinse liquid is stopped while rotating the wafer, the remaining rinse liquid is scattered so that the wafer is dried.
In the liquid processing unit, a recovery cup is provided around the rotating wafer to receive the processing liquid scattered from the wafer by an action of a centrifugal force and guide the processing liquid to a drain port.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-265912 discloses a processing unit in which a pot is provided to surround a substrate held in a spin chuck, a plurality of annular partitions is arranged in a nest form inside the pot, and a plurality of annular flow paths for recovering a processing liquid is configured to be switchable in the pot or between the annular partitions by moving the annular partitions vertically (see, e.g., paragraphs 0026, 0060 to 0061, 0067, 0088 to 0096, and FIGS. 1 and 14 to 16). The pot or the annular partitions as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-265912 correspond to the above-mentioned recovery cup.
In the processing unit described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-265912, the processing liquid scattered from the substrate is received in the pot or the annular partitions each constituting an annular flow path, and the processing liquid is sorted and discharged towards a specific annular flow path such that the processing liquid is recovered through the annular flow path. Further, annular flow paths, which are not involved in the recovery of the processing liquid, are configured such that their openings are closed by disposing the pot and the annular partitions to be overlapped at a position close to each other. Therefore, the processing liquid is not allowed to flow therein.